After hanging out with the man raze guys conducting
an interview then having a general chit chat,
then finally concluding the epic task of finding
a plain black scarf, it was time for the gig.
And the curse of wolverhampton continued, i was
on the guest list to get in, but the problem arose
when i was minus a photo pass, after much searching
and some waiting, Ronan, Man Razes tour manger
(i assume) sorted me one out! Thanks Mate!
Main support, Man Raze, consisting of Def Leppards
guitarist Paul Collen, the sex pistols drummer,
Paul Cook, and Ex Girl bass player Simon Laffy,
They Opened with This Is, not a bad opener but
like there debut album 'Surreal' in which this
song features, it all sounds laid back, its not
a bad thing, the guys on stage have decent stage
presence on this rather large Civic Hall stage.
They sound really tight and much better than there
album performance. They share some crowd banter,
and they dedicate a Jimi Hendrix Cover 'Stand
Next to Your Fire' a really decent cover. They
defiantly sit in the alt rock genre and coming
from a classic rock background there doing it
with great aplomb! They close there set with 'Turn
It Up', a good set closer and also there latest
single. It was a decent performance with a middle
of the road sound, perhaps just setting a solid
base to work up from, i look forward to seeing
them again with new material.
Alice Cooper, a man i've seen live twice before
an throughly enjoyed it, in fact as far a performance
goes probably in the top 5 best performances i've
ever seen, and tonight i was expecting to be entertained
yet again. He opened up with 'Schools out' a classic
AC track updated with heavier guitars, sounding
tip top. Tonights set list made up of mostly staple
songs like 'I'm Eighteen', 'Welcome to my Nightmare',
and one of his most recognised songs 'Poison',
which to my surprise was played early on as its
normally played late on. The one thing that is
really disappointed me was the absence of 'Feed
my Frankenstein', as this song sounds great live
and is my personal favourite. The pacing of the
set seemed off to me as it really lagged in the
middle and lost some momentum. The set as ever
is a mammoth affair playing 25 songs in total,
they closed there set with a reprise of Schools
out ending the set with a feel good factor, which
cant be faulted. Its not the best performance
i've seen, but compared to most bands, its still
pretty damned good, i mean how many bands kill
themselves on stage with the noose, guillotine
and been driven through with spikes in an iron
maiden! and give alot of stuff to the crowd be
it Dirty diamonds during the song of the same
name and hundred dollars with Alice's head on
during Billion Dollar babies. Its more like Theatre
than a gig, but still great, but just off tonight,
due to a slightly poor choice in songs chosen
and a slightly poor order of songs effecting the
pacing, but as i said his gigs are better than
most.
Man Raze - 4/5
Alice Cooper – 4/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
